Employment and labour relations are undergoing a process of profound transformation in many of their original matrices, creating new challenges for organisations and their legal advisers.

At the root of this transformation, we highlight the following main change factors:

  • the digital and technological factor, principally marked by the increasing algorithmic management and transformation of various aspects of the employment relationship, driven by the generalisation of Artificial Intelligence;
  • the organisational factor, associated with the growing focus on the role of people and the importance of people management within organisations;
  • the demographic factor, linked to the increase in average life expectancy, intergenerational coexistence within organisations, and the respective impacts on the employment market; and
  • the cultural factor, reflected in the unquestionable and growing demand from different stakeholders (whether shareholders, investors, clients, employees, or local communities) for the implementation of ethical and sustainability criteria.

The combination of these different factors of change has led to the emergence of a series of new and complex issues in human resources management, which include the key issues of employment compliance and risk management.

Topics such as Labour Tech, Diversity & Inclusion and non-discrimination, emerging work models (remote work, multi-location work, freelancing, etc.), and sustainability are now unavoidable and require organisations to develop different and innovative approaches.

In order to face these new challenges, companies will have to adopt a cutting-edge preventive approach, which can only be achieved if there is coordination and collaboration between the various fields of knowledge.

HR Future aims to address some of these topical issues and alert companies to the new elements of the future of employment and labour relations.